“Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can fix this?” Alex asked, looking none too happy about being there.
Although Alex wouldn’t be directly affected, his company would. Not to mention, XTX was going to get a lot of heat should this hit the front page headlines. Xavier Thomas was not going to be a happy man, nor would any of the other clients who had originally been looking to hire Sam in the future. And that meant Alex and Ashleigh both would be in the line of fire, even if inadvertently.
“I’m sure Logan and Luke informed you that we addressed the members, but we got nowhere with them. They aren’t willing to help even though this is going to affect them just as much as it will you,” McKenna spoke up. “I’m not sure that really sank in with them at the time.”
“Oh, they knew exactly what the hell we were talking about,” Luke barked. “They’re just a bunch of selfish bastards that think they’re above everyone else.” Luke’s anger was palpable.
“Were you able to find anything on the videos that might help?” McKenna asked Alex.
“Nothing that we didn’t already know and nothing the media wouldn’t expect from a lowlife playboy like Stephen Crawford.”
“His credibility is highly questionable,” Logan said. “But that isn’t going to make a difference once this gets out. The press will forget him and Susan in an instant, but they’ll be all over us immediately.”
“I think it’s best if I just come clean and accept responsibility for my actions,” Sam declared, glancing back and forth at all the faces focused on her. “You don’t know how truly sorry I am that there isn’t anything I can do to slow this runaway train, but I would if I could.”
“You know,” Ashleigh interrupted, “I’ve always believed in telling the truth, but what if we head this off by reporting that those are fakes. You know, altered to suit the needs of those two?”
Everyone at the table stopped and turned toward Ashleigh. Tag fought to keep from laughing when Alex’s mouth dropped open as he stared at his future wife.
“Ashleigh Marie!” Sierra scolded with a laugh. “You’ve been spending way too much time with us.”
That had the table erupting in laughter.
Well, everyone except for McKenna.
“You know, that might just work,” she stated, glancing around the table. “I’m not saying we have to out and out lie about it, but what if we spin a story that gets people questioning them even more than they already are.”
“Like what?” Luke asked.
“I don’t know.” McKenna shook her head briefly. “I haven’t thought it completely through yet. But, I think it’s time we take some of the attention off of them, and put it back where it belongs.”
“Didn’t you already try that with the interviews?” Tag asked.
It was a good idea, provided they could stay within the realms of the truth as much as possible because the last thing they needed was to make this fucked up situation any worse.
He just feared they were already heading down that path.
Chapter Thirty
*** ~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***
“What do you mean it won’t work?” McKenna asked as she and Tag walked into his private room. Lunch had lasted longer than they expected, but neither of them had anything else pressing to do. Well, except try to divert a disaster waiting to happen.
“That’s exactly what I mean, McKenna,” Tag retorted angrily.
She wasn’t quite sure when he stopped supporting the cause, but as soon as they got into his car, he had torn into her about spearheading this little clusterfuck. His words, not hers.
“Well, I think it will work,” she answered, making sure he heard the irritation she was currently strangled by.
Throughout all of the conversations at lunch, he hadn’t said much and when he did, he didn’t contribute either way. Now she knew why.
“Of course you do.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” She immediately turned to face him, not even stopping to set her purse down.
“You’ve got stars in your eyes, darlin’. You think everything is going to work out when you should be stepping back and asking yourself why you even care. This doesn’t affect you, but for some reason you’re sticking your pretty little neck out when it’d be in your best interest just to keep your mouth shut.”
McKenna flinched like he had just slapped her. And she felt as though he had. She was too dumbfounded to come up with a retort. What was he trying to say? She didn’t belong here? These people didn’t deserve her help? Or was he just worried she was getting too involved, and it might just infringe on his life once she walked out, which she should have done first thing that morning, but she hadn’t.
That thought had her stomach churning.
Staring back at him, McKenna realized that’s exactly what he was saying. She was getting too close, and he wasn’t comfortable with it. Somewhere along the way, in the last seven days, McKenna had started believing that Tag might actually care about her. And what a fucking mistake that had been.
How could she have been so naive?
Taking a detour over to the couch, McKenna picked up her laptop and then went straight to the door. She was leaving. She didn’t have to put up with this shit from him and as far as the contract was concerned, they had both fulfilled their end of the deal. With the exception of her amendment. But looking at Tag now, she didn’t give a shit about that anymore.
“Where are you going?” Tag growled.
“Anywhere but here.”
“You can’t just leave,” he argued, but he didn’t sound very convincing.
“The hell I can’t. I don’t need to wait around while you try to come up with some bullshit reason to push me away. You can twist it however you want, but it doesn’t change a damn thing.” McKenna was doing her damnedest to rein in her temper, to not let him see how angry she was at what he was doing.
“There’s nothing to twist.”
“The hell there’s not. You feel something, damn it. I don’t care if you’re too stubborn to admit it or not. You feel it just like I do,” she yelled.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Tag’s tone cooled significantly, and McKenna braced herself for the impact of what would come next. “It’s about sex, darlin’. That’s all it has ever been about.”
She couldn’t have steeled herself for that if she wanted to. His words stung, but more importantly, they pissed her off.
Taking a deep breath, she swallowed the pain and anger as best she could, “Thanks for the tour, Tag. Don’t worry, I know the terms of our agreement. I’ll make sure I get Luke’s blessing before I write my final article,” she said through clenched teeth. “If I write anything at all.”
With that, she calmly opened the door and gently shut it behind her, resisting the urge to slam it, and fighting the tears that threatened to fall.
Stupid tears.
By the time McKenna got home, she was over the hurt, and she was on her way to a good pissed off. During the cab ride home, she had plenty of time to think. Maybe not plan like she wanted, but more than enough time to realize exactly where she had gone wrong.
Once inside her house, McKenna dropped her purse on the table in the foyer and put her laptop down on the kitchen counter before venturing to the cabinet where she retrieved a wine glass.
If she wasn’t so worried about doing something incredibly stupid, she would bust out the vodka. But, she knew better than to immerse herself in hard liquor when it came to drowning her sorrow. Instead, she would settle on a glass of her favorite red and a phone call to the one woman who would know how to make it all better.
“McKenna?” Whisper greeted when she answered the phone. “Is everything all right?”
“No.” That was the only answer she had for that question. No, everything was not all right. Nor was she sure it ever would be again.
“Where are you?”
“At home,” McKenna answered reluctantly.
“I’m coming over. D
on’t move a muscle until I get there,” Whisper said quickly.
“Wait.” That wasn’t why McKenna had called. She didn’t want to pull Whisper away from whatever she was doing.
“Nope, no waiting. I’m on my way.”
The phone disconnected, and McKenna stared down at the screen that showed her the call had, in fact, ended.
True to her word, ten minutes later, Whisper was banging on the front door, and McKenna was running to answer it. The second she opened it, her friend walked right in bearing gifts in the form of two more bottles of wine. McKenna grinned. Leave it to Whisper to make sure she was taken care of.
“Where’s Anna?” McKenna asked as she trailed behind Whisper on the way to the kitchen.
“She’s... out.” Whisper’s curt answer was her way of saying she didn’t want to talk about it.
Without asking, which McKenna totally expected, Whisper pulled out another wine glass, filled it full and then refilled McKenna’s before hopping up onto the center island counter and turning the full brunt of her attention on McKenna.
“I want every last detail, and if you leave anything out, I’ll know.”
McKenna smiled. She couldn’t help herself.
Pulling out one of the bar stools, she plopped down and proceeded to tell Whisper – minus a few minor details – exactly what had happened over the last week. By the time she was finished, Whisper was staring back at her with her mouth hanging open.
“What?”
“You fell for him.” It wasn’t a question, and McKenna knew she didn’t need to answer either.
It was that obvious.
But she lied anyway. “I did not fall for him.”
“Bullshit. You went off and fell in love with dreamy lawyer man. What were you thinking?” Whisper was laughing, but that didn’t make McKenna feel any better.
What had she been thinking?
“It’s not like that,” McKenna stated firmly, pushing her empty wine glass toward her friend so she could refill it.
“It is so like that.”
“No, it’s not. It’s just a job.”
That got Whisper to laughing so hard, McKenna thought she might just fall off the countertop.
“Honey, sex is never a job for you. No matter how you try to spin it or what you tell yourself.”
Ok, so maybe that was true. McKenna had experience; she’d even done some crazy shit in her lifetime, but no, when it came to sex, she didn’t do it casually. Ever.
Which is why she was so surprised she had gone and given in to Tag. Ok and maybe surprised wasn’t the right word for it either. From the moment she laid eyes on the sexy, laid back lawyer, McKenna had wanted him with a ferocity that she didn’t even recognize.
Ever since the rat bastard who broke her heart sixteen months earlier, she had sworn off men. But she could pretend with the best of them. Her readers thought she was worldly when it came to sex, except she knew better. Sure, she knew what she wanted, and she had lived out some of those fantasies with Tag because her stupid, naive heart convinced her much more cautious brain that it was ok.
It was definitely not ok.
“He’s scared.” Whisper’s words broke through her thoughts and pulled her back to the present.
“Nothing scares that man,” she explained to her friend. “He got what he wanted, and he must’ve realized I was falling too fast which he likely knew would happen.”
“You give him way too much credit,” Whisper commented as she refilled her own glass. “He’s only human and honey, there ain’t no man – or woman for that matter – who wouldn’t fall for you if given half a chance.”
It was McKenna’s turn to laugh. “They’re just curious to find out whether those pictures were airbrushed or not.”
When she looked up at Whisper, she noticed her friend was no longer smiling. Preparing herself for the tongue lashing she was about to receive, McKenna focused on her wine glass, turning it slowly on the granite countertop.
“Boss lady, I don’t know what happened to you, but I can assure you, when the world looks your way, they don’t see the mistakes of that young, naive eighteen year old girl. Hell, that was so long ago I doubt anyone even remembers it.”
Right. McKenna knew people remembered because she received emails day in and day out from men asking whether she was going to bare all in her magazine any time soon.
They remembered.
“Dreamy lawyer man is not like that,” Whisper added.
“He is so like that. His life revolves around sex. From the toys in his private room to the raunchy club he’s a member of, Tag lives and breathes sex.”
When McKenna looked up, Whisper was looking at her skeptically.
“You need to talk to him.”
McKenna broke eye contact and went back to twirling her glass. “I’m done talking. I’m done trying to help. He made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t need, nor does he want my help.”
“He might not, but the McCoy’s do,” Whisper argued. “They trust you, Mac. They’ve proven that. And you’d be smart not to let them or yourself down by letting one man’s insecurities drag you down.”
McKenna didn’t believe Tag had a single insecure bone in his entire body. He exuded confidence and self-assurance to the point she could practically taste it when she was around him. And truth be told, she had tried to inhale it at every opportunity, hoping, like hell, he could infuse her with just a fraction of his hard won control.
She failed.
“So, what’s next? Do we write an article to counter Stephen’s and Susan’s threat? Or do we sit back and let Samantha McCoy take a beating for being the woman she wants to be?”
McKenna didn’t like the idea of anyone hurting Samantha. Or any one of the people she had come to know over the last week. She didn’t want to turn her back on them, even if she risked having her heart smashed and smeared. She wasn’t that woman. She was stronger than that.
Glancing back up at Whisper, she smiled for the first time in the last couple of hours.
“No, I’m not going to let her take the fall. But, I’m going to need your help.”
Whisper clapped her hands like a little girl, grinning from ear to ear. “Gladly.”
Chapter Thirty One
*** ~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***
Tag was an asshole. A stubborn asshole at that.
He knew it, and now McKenna knew it too.
Two incredibly long weeks had crawled by, and Tag hadn’t heard from her at all. Not that he had tried to contact her either. Because, well... because he’s a jackass.
The worst part about it all was that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Day, night, it didn’t matter. She constantly plagued his thoughts. On top of that, she was working diligently to help Sam and Logan out of the current situation they were in, although no one seemed to be making any headway.
Everyone was moving stoically forward while Tag felt like he was just sitting still. He had frequent meetings with both Sam and Logan, yet neither of them mentioned McKenna at all. He knew they were talking to her because he read the articles that came out each day. In fact, that was the first thing he did every morning. With a cup of coffee and his tablet computer, he sat at his kitchen table and consumed his caffeine almost as quickly as he consumed whatever she wrote.
It was making him fucking crazy.
And still he had no intentions of doing anything about it.
What the hell could he do? Grovel? Plead? Beg? Sure, maybe. But that wasn’t in his nature. And he absolutely refused to turn into his father. He would never let any one woman own him to the point he didn’t care about even himself anymore. That was probably his biggest fear of all.
After Tag had James return all of McKenna’s personal things she had left with her abrupt departure, he hadn’t even returned to his private room at the club. Nor had he gone to the club.
His life now revolved around work, trying to figure out a way to get Sam and Logan out of this mess without taking everyone else do
wn with them. Thankfully, Stephen Crawford appeared to have gone into hiding. They weren’t that lucky as far as Susan went. The woman was at it each and every day, talking foolish nonsense to whoever would listen to her, yet not a single name or even a hint of a picture had been mentioned.
As Tag sat at the table now, powering up his tablet, he waited patiently to see what McKenna had been up to the day before. He knew the articles she published would share as much insight as he was going to get as to what was going on in her life, and he had settled on at least knowing she was ok.
With a couple of touches to the screen, he pulled up her magazine’s website and scrolled to the last post which had been at nine o’clock the previous night. Glancing at his watch, he noticed it was already eight.
When I Say No, That’s What I Mean
Dear Mr. Stephen Crawford,
I debated for days on how I should address your insistent, constant requests and last night, it finally came to me. A public apology seemed to be in order. So, I’m writing this for you – and the rest of my readers – because I felt it was critically important to ensure you received the message.
First of all, I appreciate your daily emails, and yes, I read each and every one. Including those that don’t contain your signature. You know the ones that are a little harsh – the belligerent threats to my safety and the safety of my staff.
Yes, those are the ones.
Glad you remember.
So, here, for everyone to see, I want to make a public apology because apparently I have not made myself clear. No, I am not interested in sharing any information about you with my readers. No, I am not interested in helping you manipulate my friends or those I care about. No, I am not interested in... Insert all of those cruel, nasty comments you made here.
I am just not interested. And I want to apologize if in any way, my repeated use of the words “No”, “No thank you”, “Absolutely not”, and “Please do not send any more requests”, weren’t clear enough for you to understand.
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